Although Vietnam - the world's fourth largest textile and apparel exporter - has huge potential for cotton cultivation and production, the local sources supply less than 2 per cent of the total requirements and the industry imports huge quantities from outside.

The EU will also eliminate duties with longer staging periods (up to 7 years) for some sensitive products, especially in the textile apparel and footwear sectors. The elimination of duties, however, will not be an open door for Chinese products to flood the EU market